Our Programs
The Green Urban Lunch Box
A 35-foot school bus that has been converted into a mobile greenhouse. We have implemented numerous different types of growing strategies into the bus in order to show what is possible regarding urban agriculture. Interpretive signage in the bus has been developed in order to teach about the scientific, agricultural and social aspects of growing food in urba
n and suburban environments. The Green Urban Lunch Box is taken on visits to schools, farmers’ markets, fairs, and other community events. The focus is on educating citizens about urban agriculture, sustainability, and healthy eating. Feel free to contact us if you would like to have The Green Urban Lunch Box visit a school or event or if you are interested in helping with outreach. Our Programs
The Back-Farm Program
This program links senior citizens and people with disabilities with their neighborhoods to share a community garden. The aim is to make more locally-grown vegetables available within communities. Through the Back-Farm Program, Green Urban Lunch Box staff and volunteers will convert the backyards of program participants into a vegetable garden. Back-Farm gardens provide healthy, organic vegetables to the homeowner. Green Urban Lunch Box staff and volunteers maintain the gardens in exchange for a share of the produce. We hope that this program will encourage healthy eating, support sustainable food systems and to strengthen communities. People interested in either having part of their yard converted to a Back-Farm or volunteering to maintain a Back-Farm should contact The Green Urban Lunch Box to learn more. Our Story
The idea started with a college friend’s wishful desire to replace the concrete parking lot outside her college dorm with a small garden plot led to a discussion about our mutual difficulties finding a location to grow our own vegetables. Brainstorming expanded our ides from planting a garden in a small trailer to larger mobile gardens. Finally, the concept of a bus-field (raising vegetables inside a bus) came into focus. We know a bus is not the most logical place to plant a garden; however not much about our current food system is logical. Growing food and transporting it across the country produces food that is tasteless, expensive and damaging to the environment. With the increasing cost of food (due in large part to the cost of transporting mass-produced vegetables), we feel the small initial expense of starting a garden supports the benefits of taste, cost savings, health, exercise and a clean environment. We understand, however, that growing food in a converted school bus will not solve the many problems in our current food system. We hope to use The Green Urban Lunch Box and all of our programs to educate and motivate individuals regarding issues related to food production and healthy eating.
